Ice server



Sept. 13, 1932. R. RAY 1,877,050

ICE SERVER Filedgan. 16. 195o 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Sept. 13, 1932 REMBERT' RAY, or VENICE, CALIFORNIA ICE SERVER I Appiiga'tmn filed anua'ry 1e', l193e. serial No'. 421,269.

This invention relates to devices'ffor vending ice from an ice house and the general ob'- ject of the invention is' to vprovide means whereby ice may be vended'from an ice house without the necessity of the attendant or vender having to go inside ofthe ice house every time he sellsV a piece of ice,fthus"saving time and labor and enabling him to serve more customers. p i a l 10 A further Objectis to provide' a 'device of this character which will preventloss of refrigeration due to the rush of warm air in to the ice house rwhenever the door is openedv'for the purpose of 'serving the customer with a piece of ice. y A

Another object is to provide'means whereby the vender may feed the cakes oficev forward toward a discharge openingstep by step Y as they are vended andv provide a swinging door or closure for the discharge opening which, after a cake of ice is discharged, will swing to a closed position, thus pieventlng'the loss of refrigeration.

A further object is to provide very simple means for so feeding the cakes of ice, which means consists of a cord running through a tubular guide, the cord'being provided with means at one end engaging behind the last cake of a series of ice cakes on' the'runway,

and means beingprovided at the discharge end of the ice house whereby the slack of the cord may be taken upas the ice is vended;

Another objectis'to provide an improved runway for the ice. y l

Other objects will appearv in the course of the following description. z Y My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical sectional viewof an ice serving structure `embodying my invention; Y

Figure 2 is a face view thereof;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig- 4'5 ure 1; Y

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the cord guiding tube showing the ice engaging dog therein; n Figure is a side elevation of the tufbe and dog with the dog` raised; 1 c f' n Figure 6 is a sectional view like Figure 4, but showing a modified form of dog; vFigure 7 is al fragmentary section through thefloorsho'wing a modified cord take up Y lFigure 8 is a horizontal sectional4 view '55 showing another form of the dog and tube,

Figure 9 is a cross section through the tube shown inl Figure 8. v l n Referring to these drawings, 10 designates 60 the front of an ice house or the frontl of any structure from .which ice is to be vended. This eXte-nds upward from the floor 11. They front l() is shown as being formed with: three 'p doors 12 mounted on hinges 13 so that ice in ok the form of different sized blocks may be vended. Disposed behind each of the doors and extending upward at aV slightinclination is a track structure comprising the vertical members 14, the transverseA connecting bolts 15, the 'lateral guides 16 and the longitudinal stringers 17 mounted upon the bolts ll Thev guides andthe stringers are provided with semi-circular'brass rails 17a over which ,y the ice sli des. I regard the provision of brass f5 rails as being very important as the ice slides very readily thereon and the ice does not contact with any iron, thus preventing the ice from picking up any unsightly'and unisanitary rust. Preferably, the bolts 15 will be 8i) surrounded by sleeves 15a whichwillse'rve to space the members 14 and 17 fromeach other.

I havel illustrated in Figure 3, three sets of rails corresponding to the three doors'12 and by, which blockso'f ice of three different sizes '3B maybe discharged. Inwardly of each of the doors 12, there is a swinging door 12a hinged at itstop so that when the block of ice is'pullcd forward by means which will -be now I dev scrbed,the closure 12a will swing upward and 9'0 then as the block of ice 'passesthe closure 12a,

it' will swing downward preferably against stops which will thus prevent more than' a n minimum rushof warm airint'o the ice house and thus prevent'the loss ofrefrigeration.'

f For thepurpose of shifting the blocks of ice longitudinally upon the tracks at the will vof the operator, I mount upon the members'14`, the tubular guides 18 which arelongitudina-lly slottedas atl 19 and disposed within'each'of 160 these guides is a cord 2O which will be preferably an ordinary sash cord. This cord 20 at its inner end is connected to a dog 21 which und-er normal circumstances projects out 5 through the slot 19 and engages behind the last block of ice which may be upon the track. There are three of these cords, one for each track. The forward end of each cord extends through the front 10 and over a pulley 22, then downward through the fioor 11 and round the double pulleys or blocks 23 and 24 in an obvious manner.

The block 24C is provided with a weight'25, which is not suiiicient to draw the blocks of ice forward but is just sutcient to take up any7 slack in the cord. y

The vending of a piece of ice is a very simple matter. Normally the irst piece of ice would be just inside the swinging door 12a. The operator first opens the outside door and then takes a pair of tongs in his right hand and hold of the control line with his left hand and pulls thc cord about ten or twelve inches which opens the swinging door and puts the ice out far enough so that the operator can conveniently take it with a pair of tongs. The line or cord 2O is not pulled any further. Now when the operator takes off this piece of ice, the next piece of ice will be disposed just far enough back so that the swinging door 12a will close. As the operator pulls upon the cord, the weight 25 operating the block 24C takes up the slack in the cord so that this slack is taken up beneath the floor. When all of the blocks of ice on the track have been delivered, the operator will pass into the ice house and taking hold of the dog 21, pull the cord back to its rearmost position. At this point, the dog 21 has passed beyond the slotted pipe 18 and may be turned into a vertical position where it will not obstruct the passage of more blocks of ice from the ice house on to the tracks. This icc maybe guided down onto the tracks from suitable chutes or the ice be loaded on to the tracks in any suitable manner. Preferably and in order to prevent irregu lar pieces of ice from striking the door sill by hanging down between the tracks, I provide a guide plate 26 which is attached to the door sill 27 and which extends downward and inward so as to lift an irregular block of ice. Lateral guides 26 are also providedso as to prevent an irregular block of ice from striking the lintels of the door frame. o

While I have heretofore described one certain construction for this ice vending machine, I do not wish to be limited thereto as it is` obvious that it might be modified without'departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, in place of the pulleys 23 and 24 and the weight 25, I may provide a drum 28 rotatably mounted beneath they floor upon which the cord 20 is wound, this drum having a hub portion 29 upon which is wound a cord 30 connected to a weight 81. This will likewise take up the slack in the cord and is particularly de signed for use where the space beneath the platform or floor 11 is limited. Neither do I wish to be limited to the use of a transversely circular tube 18 within which the cord20 may pass nor to the particular shape of the dog21 as the tube may be rectangular in cross section and the dog be provided with wheels 32 as shown in Figure 8. Such a roller'supported dog would be used only when extremely easy operation is desired.

While I have heretofore described the dog as being vrotatable into a vertical position, only when the dog has been pulled back to a position at the extreme rear end of the tubular member 18, I do not wish to be limited to this. Thus as shown in Figure 6, this dog 21a might be hinged at 33, thus enabling the dog to be turned up into a vertical position and pulled back to any desired extent and then engaged by a block of ice. Thus the track could be loaded without having to first push back the dog.

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After loading, the operator can turn the dog 21a upward to a vertical position and slide it back past the ice to the rear. This construction would be particularly desirable where thel control lines 2O are being pulledv very often and a man was required at all times in the ice house to continually load it.

While I have illustrated the doors 12a as being disposed relatively close to the doors 12, it will be understood, of course, that there might be greater space between these doors if desired so as to permit a block of ice to pass the door 12a and then door 12a to swing down behind the block of ice before the door 12 is opened. I-Iowever, preferably there is but little space between these two doors and not enough room for the block of ice. The swinging door 12a is intended mainly for the purpose of closing quickly the moment a piece of ice is taken and when both doors are closed, the small air space between has some insulating value. In the ordinary operation of this device, the outer door will be opened irst since generally the block of ice will always be up to and bearing against the inner door. Then when the outer door is opened, the cord or cable 2O will shift the inner ,door open to permit the block of ice to pass. l

The tracks may be loaded from the end or side. In many cases where it is essential to have a large number of different sized pieces, I may extend the tracks for many feet, in which case the operator in a moment could go inside and slide up a number of pieces of ice on each track to a. point where it can be engaged with a dog or catch. Preferably the cords 20 will be guided downward through the floor 11 by means of the Iiared tubes so as to provide for easier running of the control lines 20 and prevent chafing of these lines.

It is obvious from the above that my invention might be modilied in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention as deiined in the appended claims,

though I have found in actual practice that the construction described above is particu-` larly effective.

I claim f' l. A structure of the character described, including a front element having a door opening provided with a swinging door, a track structure extending rearward from the door opening and including longitudinally extending rails upon which the blocks of ice may slide, a tubular longitudinally slotted guide extending the whole length of the track structure, a cord extending through said guide, and at its forward end extending through the front element of thestructure whereby the cord may be vpulled to discharge blocks of ice through said door opening, a member operatively connected to the rear end of the cord, and having va portion formed so that it may pass through the slot in the guide and a dog pivoted to said last named portion so that it maybe turned upward to a vertical position to permit the dog to'be pulled back past blocks of ice on the track.

2.' In a vending mechanism of the character described, tracks upon which articles to be vended are disposed, a tubular guide extending parallel to the tracks, the guide being longitudinally slotted, a flexible element extending through the tubular guide and having a dog projecting out through said slot and engageable beyond the last article of the series to be vended, the flexible element extending out through the forward end of the tubular guide wherebyV it may be manually pulled from time to time, and means at the forward end of the structure for taking up the slack in the flexible element as it is pulled out of the guide.

A vending structure of the character described, including a track on to which articles to be vended are disposed, a tubular longitudinally slotted guide extending the whole length of the track structure, a flexible element extending through said guide and at its forward end extending beyond the guide whereby it may be pulled to discharge the articles being vended successively from the track, and a dog operatively connected to the rear end of the flexible element, the dog being formed so that it will pass through the slot in the guide, the dog being operatively pivoted to the rear end of the flexible element whereby it may be turned into a position to escape engagement with the articles being vended and permit the dogvto be pulled back to the rear of the guide whenfnew articles are to be disposed upon the track.

4. A vending apparatus including a track- REMBERT RAY.

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